The Show - MJRF2010

Well here we are at the fabulous 2010 MacJams Reunion Festival, and what a pleasure it is to be here.

This year we reached back into the past and came up with 2 songs we originally posted on MacJams in 2007, our first year here on MacJams and did completely new version of them. These are new productions and while I did reuse some of the midi tracks I'd built for the original versions, they have all be reworked extensively.

On "Maybe He'll Get Lucky" there was a total of 15 tracks in the song of which only one track was a loop I used to supplement the original drum track. Also on this song, although it is not my first attempt at playing Pedal Steel guitar, it is the first song I feel like I had success in keeping the Steel under control. It also the first time I've got the sound where I wanted it by using the Amp simulator to create a custom built Steel Guitar amp that works in the studio, or on stage.

On "Heartbeat" there are 19 track in total of which 4 are loops, used on some supplemental rhythm guitar parts. The other 15 tracks are either live tracks ( guitars, vocals and harmonies) or reworked midi tracks for the Bass, Piano, and Drums from the original version done in 1990.

In the time I've been here I've learned a lot about cleaning up old midi track and using loops effectively to enhance my songs and make them sound better. I consider using loops the same as I would hiring studio pros to play the parts I want for the song because in the end, it's really the song that matters, at least to me.

And besides, I am, for better or worse, an old singer/song writer/musician, and especially now that I've attained Senior Citizen status and I can longer play my instruments as well as I used to.

I hope the music is pleasing and the show is enjoyable.

Thanks for listening, and be sure to listen to all the wonderful entries in this years, "MacJams Reunion Festival 2010"

He's thinkin' maybe he'll get lucky, maybe he won't.
Maybe he'll get to take her home, maybe he won't
Or maybe he'll just sit there on that barstool gettin' drunk.
Maybe he'll get lucky, maybe he won't

Verse 2

I can see it in his eyes the way he looks at her.
He's tryin' to figure out a way to get to her
And even though I'm sittin' right here next to her.
He thinks he can take her, away from me

Chorus

Now maybe he feels lucky, maybe he don't.
Maybe he'll be a winner, maybe he won't
Maybe he really wants to find out if I'm gettin' drunk.
Maybe he'll get lucky, maybe he won't

Verse 3

As a general rule I'm normally a quiet man.
I try to mind my own affairs as best I can
But there's one thing that I think he'd better understand.
The lady he's talkin' to, is married to me

Instrumental verse

Chorus

Now maybe he feels lucky, maybe he don't.
Maybe he'll be a winner, maybe he won't
And maybe he really wants to find out if I'm gettin' drunk.
Maybe he'll get lucky, maybe he won't

Verse I
I can feel your heartbeat, feel it to the core.
Turnin' on emotions, I never felt before
I want you close beside me baby I wanna feel your warmth.
I can feel your heartbeat I wanna feel your heartbeat

Chorus
All my life I been searchin' for, a lover just like you.
I need to know if you feel like me, Do you love me too

Verse II
Is it any wonder, when your by my side.
You can sense the feelings baby, that I cannot hide
Can you sense the fire burning, burning deep inside.
I can feel your heartbeat, I wanna feel your heartbeat

Instrumental Verse

Chorus
I can feel your heartbeat baby, feel it to the core.
Turnin' on emotions, I never felt before
Wantcha close beside me baby, wanna feel your warmth.
I can feel your heartbeat, wanna feel your heartbeat

Thanks Doug
Glad you came to the show, and found something to like. I'm not sure the new versions are actually better, or just different. but it got the blood flowing to get back to work after nearly a month of being out of it.

And we have
another hit from you Ed... I remember this first time.... but this one sounds really good too or should I say 'two' ...for the price of one.... great stuff Ed,voice is strong as ever and guitars sound great. Love em both, cheers M

spinning 45's
an a side & b side. the first song very tradition and old style, the steel guitar sounds great. the second tune very contemporary country rock and rock it does! a great example of how you can cover both styles.

The Show
Glad to see you posting again Ed.. I dig both of these songs. Story songs in general are cool, and I enjoyed the "plot twist" in "Maybe He'll Get Lucky". The pedal steel is cool too - haven't heard too much of that at MJ. On "Heartbeat", you had some great licks man, so I hope your tongue was firmly in cheek when you let us in on your Senior Citizen status, and the alleged consequences thereof. Great job!

Guilty as charged, your Honor,
On the old age thing, and the hands not working like they did ---- years ago. But I still love the challenge, and have to try. these festivals give a lot of us oldsters a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

The Show
Hey Ed - this is fun! I think it is cool how you created the live sound and feel for this work, even down to the banter with the audience between the tunes. You may or may not have a band backing you in your work - I had always assumed it was all you - this got me wondering if I was mistaken. Both songs are fun and energetic, with as solid of performances as I have ever heard you play. Nice pedal steel, too. Thanks for the share!
Sig

It's what I do, or so I've been told
But really, we have "mr mordenus aka Rik Berryere" to blame for that. Right after coming to MacJams, I heard Rik Berryere's "Chocolate Rabbit" and got the bug for doing fake live performances. Unfortunately, Rik's original account was accidentally deleted so the song's not on here anymore. I do wish Rik would repost that song.

As for the "Band". If you look really closely at the picture, those are all photos of me. Some of them were done in Apple's "Photo Booth" which allows me to distort the picture in some very strange ways. So in fact, I, and my iMac are the band except when I do a collab.

Anyway, thanks a lot for listening and the very kind words Sig, I do appreciate that.

Thanks for the audio report John,
I was wondering if the sound system was up to the task, and I guess it was. Thanks for coming to the show and taking time to send your feedback back stage my friend. It's how we learn and I really appreciate it. Glad you liked the song John.

Thanks Neighbor
Glad you enjoyed the show and left the kind words on it. I think the guy in the bar may be in for a little surprise, cause I wasn't getting drunk. That come right after I kick his A - - .
This was always a fun song to do on stage and it always got a great reaction from the crowds when ever we did it all those years ago.

The second song was a very tame rocker in it's original guise, so I thought I'd get a little more aggressive this time. What a hoot that was.

ten seconds in, I'm grinning
Man, you make this look effortless and smooth. That 'old school' country feel hits a sweet spot in my psyche - and your live jive is wonderfully relaxed. The singing voice is a treat to listen to, by the way... sure glad I made time to come to the reunion. This was a great set!

Well I'm glad you made it too Mr M.
Wouldn't be an honest to goodness festival if you couldn't be here. Glad you enjoyed the Tread Country song, always a fav of mine. The second song I redid on a lark. Always felt the original was too tame. It's not tame now though.

Thanks for the listen and the kind words old friend. (and I mean that "Old" in the best possible way) lol

You sly
old Divil you...slipping two toe tapping treats in here..and you done great with the ambience effect,sounds like it was a packed stadium that night and you had that audiebce in the palm of your hand...nice one Ed...and the Steel sounds good ....see ya Chris J

thanks Chris
Well, the audience was all fired up when I took the stage, cause Davisamerica, 1 and 2, and Outtaorbit, backed up by
guitapick, ibstrat, and michael2 had just left the stage, and they were ready to Rock. So it wasn't too hard to keep them going.

As for the Steel parts, it's coming along slowly but at least it's coming along. Got a long ways to go on that, but it's a fun journey so I'm just going with the flow on it and enjoying working with that Pedal Steel.

Thanks for the listen Chris and the very kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed the show and I appreciate the kind word.

Thanks Tobin
I was glad to see you entered the festival this year and I really enjoyed the redo on Grave Robbing.

As for the "virtual stage", it's something I learned to do after I heard Rik Berryere's "Chocolate Rabbit - Fake Live" the first year I was here. I'd never thought about doing something like that until a heard how good Rik had done his. I just wish he would repost it on the new account one of these days.

Glad you enjoyed the show Tobin and I certainly appreciate your very kind words on it.

You gotta ask yourself.. are you feeling lucky?
country is not a genre i frequent, however, this was great fun... I enjoyed the intro and the clean mix and writing/playing of the various parts. It does not matter what age you are, Ed, you still got it and rock the stage. Besides, how can you not like a song that has cowbell in it?
ttfn,
Drakonis

Thanks Eduard
It's kind of like me when it comes to Electronica, I don't go there often, but when I do I usually find something I like, at least most times when I listen to what you and some of the others I've come to know here on MJ do.

Thanks for checking "The Show" out, I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun putting together this fake live set, and every time I do one of these I manage to learn something new about doing music, and myself.

As I break into a wide grin
First I love the live feel, but the start of the first song has me in your grasp. Straight ahead county delivered with great vocal style - and who is that over there on the dobro? Looks like a clone of Ed.

That intro to the second song is brilliant. The sound of the rhythm guitar really takes me back to the 70s. Fun stuff here - thanks Ed! Just what I needed right now. (Sounds like the crowd agrees!!)

Hello Doug
Ya gotta love that good old Country Music. That guy on the "Dobro" was actually me on my Pedal Steel Guitar. I'm just now trying to learn how to play the Pedal Steel, and although I have a long ways to, I am making progress. Hopefully the Steel playing will get better and better. I don't have any plans to start playing Steel except here in the studio, but I still want to get good enough to at least do live Steel parts on my songs.

Ah yes and then there's "Back to the 70's" It's where I did some of my best work, there and in the 60's. I love a good Coutry Rock song and this is kind of a mix between 70's rock and a little bit of Country thrown in.

Glad you enjoyed the show Doug, and thanks again for the kind words on it.

Ed, cool live feeling
You're a man who really can get a party feeling to this festivals.
I bet you've played on some real festivals too.
As always my friend I love your country songs, so cheers and thanks for this on stage songs... Peace

Thanks Kenta
Glad you made it into the festival my friend, but I didn't see Linda here. I hope she's not home sick or anything like that.

I've played a few festivals, but never where there was so much talent on the stage as there is here at the MacJams Reunion Festivals. Got some of the best acts in the business right here on MJ don't ya know..

Thanks for listening my friend and for the great comments, I'm glad you enjoyed the show.

Be well and be cool, and of course tell Linda I hope she's feeling better. lol

Thanks Terry
Glad you enjoyed "The Show" (always wanted to say that in this context) Both songs were a blast to redo, and as for the Steel, hopefully it will continue to get better. The Steel's a lot of fun when you get it right, and frustration as all get out when you don't.

Thanks Guy
Been doing some steel work lately, but I still have a long way to go. I just couldn't resist doing this as a stage set, there just a blast to do.Thanks again for listening an the kind word Guy

Yeah, and they're fun to do too
I really like doing these "Little Shows". But even more, the challenge of this kind of event, The Festival" gets me fired up to find new ways to improve the songs. Really makes me have to rethink the way I've been doing things musically.

Thanks for the listen John, and the great comments, I do so much appreciate you, and all my fellow MJers taking time to comment, and make suggestions that at times lead me where I wouldn't go on production of my stuff. It's all good my friend.

Hello my friend
Ya know, I've been tempted to put together a real song set like this with maybe 6 or 8 songs. It would be fun to do, but as big as would be I couldn't up load it. Besides, I'm not sure anyone would want to listen to that much "sloparts" music in one sitting. Well maybe someday I will.

Thanks form listening Dick and the kind words. Take care, be well, and be cool,

Thanks Yeman
Glad you got the chance to listen to this little "mini" show. I always have a blast when I put together one of these Festival shows. I decided early on, after listening to Rik Berryere's (mr_mordenus) fake live version of "Chocolate Rabbit" that if the opportunity ever came for me to do one like I was gonna do just that. So far I've done I think 4 fake live shows since I've been here, and still counting, and each was as much fun as the first one.

Anyway, like I said, thanks for listening and the kind words my young friend, I appreciate it a lot.

Holy cow Ed!
I don't know if I can put into words how much I enjoyed this. Both songs are excellent, as is the production. You've nailed the spirt of the festival with the "live" presentation. Outstanding!!

Thanks Tony
I'm working on learning the pedal steel, so I wanted to try to do a limited steel part of my own in the first song, and I wanted to put some real drive and energy in the second. Neither is all the way there yet, but they're both a lot better than the original posts I did of them.

These challenges help because I have to go back and relearn the songs and then try to figure out how to make them better. I usually get more out of it because of the learning then the audience does with listening to the new version.

Thanks again for listening and the kind words my friend, it is appreciated.

Thanks Thoddi
I appreciate the listen, and the kind words Thoddi. I've been working on learning the Pedal Steel, and although I know I have a long way to go, it's nice to hear I'm making some progress.

Doing this as a live set was a lot of fun for me, and I think it adds to the feeling of the Festival by doing it that way.

I've been playing guitar since 1962. Over the years since then, I've also learned to play Bass, Drums, and Keyboards, as well as playing the Guitar. I live in western Arkansas now, and I am retired. I'm just kickin' back with my new found freedom, ... [see more]